The Top 10 Reasons Vincent Loves Yuffie
by Siskin
Summary: Not a list, but a progression of shortshorts. My take on the VincentYuffie pairing. Takes place at various points during the game.
1. 10

Disclaimer: Pay attention, cause I'm only going to say this once for this story. FFVII not mine. Don't sue me; I have no money.

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The Top 10 Reasons Vincent Loves Yuffie

#10

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It couldn't be more perfect.

The stars were shining, the moon was full, and Yuffie was alone on the beach of Costa del Sol with the man she absolutely adored. It was a scene right out of her favorite books at home, the ones she hid behind the dresser so her father wouldn't find them. She lay on the cool sand next to the crimson-caped gunslinger, smelling the salt air (with just a slight aroma of fish—well, all right, it could be a _little_ more perfect) and gazing worshipfully down at him, willing those gorgeous ruby eyes to open.

He stirred and gave a sigh that melted her. Well, actually it was more of a moan, but still, in that thrilling low voice, he'd sound good reading bad haikus in German. She smiled and brushed strands of dark hair away from his face. Those stunning eyes opened, just as she'd imagined, and took a moment to focus on her face. "…Yuffie?"

"It's me, Vincent," she whispered happily.

He frowned; she could see it in the faint lines appearing between his eyes. "Where are we?"

"On the beach, with nobody else around to interrupt us," she purred, stroking his temple lightly.

He winced and moved his claw hand up to his head, making her give a startled yelp and duck. He touched his temple with the back of one claw, and it came back bloody. Those crimson eyes turned back to her face with a significantly cooler expression. "Yuffie… you hit me with your shuriken."

Dammit. She thought head injuries were supposed to cause amnesia—why couldn't he have forgotten that part?


	2. 9

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The Top 10 Reasons Vincent Loves Yuffie

#9

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The ferocious battle seemed to have gone on forever, but at last it was over. The slain monsters lay in a gooey, disgusting pile of remains and ichor, and Yuffie wasn't really in much better shape; they'd almost bitten off more than they could chew in this fight. Maybe they should've picked an area with easier monsters. She sat dizzily on the ground, catching her breath.

Vincent ran over to her and crouched beside her. He was still a little tattered-looking after his transformation back from Galian. "Yuffie, are you all right? Here, let me heal you!" He looked a bit loopy himself as he invoked his Cure materia, and didn't seem to notice that his Cure spell went awry and was wasted on Cloud, who had been knocked out in the fight and lay unconscious nearby.

She smiled wanly and produced a potion she'd kept on hand just in case, and swallowed it. In a moment she was feeling a hundred percent better. "Thanks, Vincent… I'm fine."

"Are you sure? Those beasts were vicious!" He helped her up and embraced her so tightly she eeped. "I don't know what I would ever do if something happened to you!"

She beamed. "Oh, Vincent, you don't have to worry about me."

His grip tightened for a moment, then released, and he stepped back. She smiled up into his face.

He was staring at her, perplexed. "Yuffie…?"

The Charm spell had worn off.

He took a couple more steps back from her, glared, and turned with a swirl of his cape and without a word to check on their quietly bleeding party leader, leaving her pouting at his back.


	3. 8

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The Top 10 Reasons Vincent Loves Yuffie

#8

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Cloud was tired, but he couldn't sleep. _Must've eaten too much at dinner,_ he thought blearily as he climbed out of bed. Barrett was snoring like a steam train, but Cloud was used to it now. Red XIII's much quieter breathing droned from the far corner. The fire in the little fireplace had burnt down to embers, but the room in the Gold Saucer's Ghost Hotel was quite warm in spite of its creepy décor. Thinking vaguely of getting a little fresh air, he slipped out of the room, noticing in passing that Vincent's bed was also empty.

At the top of the stairs, he glanced down and stopped short. Down in the lobby, Yuffie was leaning against the wall near the door. Vincent was standing over her, one hand pressed against the wall above her head. He heard low voices.

…_what the hell? _He closed his mouth after a moment, and saw Vincent lean closer to Yuffie. He shook his head and turned to walk quietly but quickly back toward the room. _Okay… I'm not walking in on _that_ for anything…_

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Vincent glared down at Yuffie. She looked back up at him with a faint smile, a daring smile.

"For the last time, Yuffie," he said softly, his red eyes glinting. "Where is my gun?"

"For the last time, I'm not telling you," she said smugly, "unless you take me on the Round Square tomorrow."

He stared at her for a long time. She stared back, a triumphant look glowing on her face.

He pushed back from the wall and turned away, hesitated, and started up toward the stairs again. "I'll get another gun," he muttered through gritted teeth.

Yuffie growled in frustration.


	4. 7

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The Top 10 Reasons Vincent Loves Yuffie

#7

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A delay had put them several hours from the next town at sundown, and since everyone was tired, Cloud had opted to make camp rather than press on after dark.

As usual, Aeris was up before anyone else. She moved as quietly as she could around the camp in the chilly morning air, rebuilding the fire from their small stock of wood. Her shoes were damp from the dew-studded grass within a few steps.

She had taken the first watch with Cloud and Red XIII; Vincent, who hardly slept anyway, had taken second watch alone with no argument from anyone. She did a double take when she saw Vincent still sitting at the watch post, with Yuffie beside him. Yuffie was grinning as she packed away a deck of cards.

Aeris smiled to herself. _So, Cloud was right. Well, I wouldn't really have expected it, but we've been traveling together for a little while now—maybe they're getting along better._ She picked up the camp kettle and went to fill it, chuckling.

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_I should have known better._

Vincent watched resignedly as Yuffie smugly put her cards away. Not only had he failed to win back his Peacemaker, he had lost all his materia to her.

He'd had to dig down deep in his memory to find the rules and the winning hands from his days as a Turk, but he'd incorrectly assumed his rusty skills would be offset by the fact that Yuffie's face was normally an open book.

_Who could've guessed that somebody that emotional could bluff that well…?_

Yuffie tucked away the pack of cards—where she stowed them in that scanty outfit, he couldn't tell. _Jailbait, _he thought crossly. She looked at him and beamed.

"Good game, Vinnie," she said brightly. "Tomorrow night, same time?"

He sighed.


	5. 6

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The Top 10 Reasons Vincent Loves Yuffie

#6

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"They really have been spending a lot of time with each other, haven't they?" Tifa walked along with hands clasped behind her back.

Cloud answered Tifa with a shrug. Now that he'd had time to get to know Vincent a little, he liked the quiet, withdrawn man well enough, sensing a kindred spirit even though Vincent rarely said anything.

Yuffie… well, Yuffie seemed to be Vincent's polar opposite in most ways. Cloud still felt he'd accurately judged her ability when they'd first met (and defeated) her, but he'd had to admit some time ago that he _had_ underestimated her potential. In spite of her frequent childishness and griping, when it came to fighting ability she'd kept up with the rest of them, even struggling to pass them. _And I don't think it's because she'd like to pound us all flat and run off with our materia. At least, not anymore._

Tifa's eyes were soft, watching Vincent walk at point with Yuffie close beside him, adjusting his longer strides to hers. "Well… it's sort of a weird match… but it is kind of sweet, isn't it?"

---

Vincent's legs ached.

He was tired of holding himself back to Yuffie's pace. He'd seen her walk much faster, but he knew why she was dawdling.

_At least she isn't hanging on my arm or anything._

Her ultimatum last night played through his head again.

_"All day! Until we stop for the night! And if you don't, I'll tell Cloud that you threatened to shoot me when I gave you your gun and materia back! And without even making you win them back!"_

He jumped when he felt a slim hand close around his upper arm, and then glowered down to see Yuffie tromping along at his side and turning a sunny smile up at him.

Vincent looked up at the afternoon angle of the sun and stifled a sigh. _Four more hours…_


	6. 5

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The Top 10 Reasons Vincent Loves Yuffie

#5

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Once they finally reached Icicle Inn, there was no conversation in the common room after dinner or in bed after the lights were out. Everyone just crashed.

_How in hell can three days seem like three years? _Barrett lay in bed, listening to snow flicking against the windows, staring at the ceiling and waiting for his toes to thaw out. The only part of him that wasn't half frozen was his gun arm.

The silence hurt. Once, he would have been hearing the three girls whispering back and forth in the next room. A few times in the past months, he'd been the one to thump on the wall and grumble at them to put a sock in it and quit keeping everyone awake. This had frequently resulted in stage-whispered arguments through the wall—punctuated by giggles—over who _really_ made the most noise at night. On one memorable occasion, it had sparked off a late-night pillow fight that had nearly gotten them all thrown out of the inn.

Now there was absolute quiet, and Barrett wished with all his heart for the whispers and giggles back. _It ain't right. It just ain't right. That white-haired freak is going to pay, and the interest rate is gonna be hell. _He felt something burning his cold cheeks, and dashed the tears away quickly with his fist. _Shit._

He heard a door open and close very quietly, and heard a sniffle in the hall, followed by more sniffles. He wasn't sure if it was Tifa or Yuffie, but it made him feel a little better. _At least I ain't the only one leaking. _He was debating the merits of getting out of his bed and putting his suffering toes through more pain in order to try to comfort whoever it was, but then he heard Vincent's bedsprings creak and quiet footsteps pace to the door. He blinked...then turned over and burrowed under the thick covers, feeling guilt mingled with relief. _Well, better him than me…_

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Vincent opened the door as quietly as he could. Yuffie was leaning on the railing, her hair mussed around her face, which was covered with both hands as she tried to stifle her tears.

He hesitated in the doorway. She didn't look up or turn around—he could probably go back into the room and she'd never know he'd seen.

_I'd know._

He stepped out quietly, and didn't even flinch much when she turned around and thumped against him, wrapping her arms tight around his waist and burying her wet face in his shirt.


	7. 4

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The Top 10 Reasons Vincent Loves Yuffie

#4

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Red XIII paced quietly around the lower deck of the Highwind, thinking. _It's quite odd, how dependent we all became on Cloud. Even I feel a little lost with him gone, and I certainly have the least reason to fret—I'm older than any of these people!_

He sighed, a softly keening canine sound. _Then again, some… all right, _many_ of them outmatch me in experience. That was the whole reason Grandpa sent me along._

The thudding footsteps he'd been hearing for the last few seconds registered too late. One moment he was padding along quietly, his flaming tail lashing gently from side to side—

The next, he was flat on the deck and tangled up with lanky legs and a giant shuriken, shaking his head to get the ring out of his ears. "Ugh… Yuffie! Please look where you—"

She was on her knees, gagging, both hands clamped over her mouth, her eyes wide and bloodshot and skin greenish-white. She left the shuriken tangled in Red's tail and dashed up the steps, and he heard the hatch to the upper deck slam open, followed by some disgusting sounds that made him hope she'd reached the railing in time.

"—are going," he muttered, flicking his tail free of the shuriken and rolling to his feet. He shook himself again and headed for the bridge, hoping it was safer in there.

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"_Airsick?"_

"_Yes." Red XIII's tail lashed._

Yes, he could tell. The hatch to the upper deck had been left open, and he could tell by the smell. She was huddled on the deck by the rail, limp, soggy, and exhausted.

Well, he'd seen—and made, and cleaned up—worse messes as a Turk…some in the line of duty, some not. He gathered Yuffie up in his arms and carried her below deck, ignoring the stares of the others coming back off the bridge as he headed for the sleeping quarters.

She was too drained to do anything but mumble and roll over when he finished cleaning her up and put her to bed. He felt strangely disappointed.


	8. 3

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The Top 10 Reasons Vincent Loves Yuffie

#3

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_Damn, I wish I were really there. After listening to Heidegger and Scarlet all afternoon, I could use a shot of something._

Through Cait-Sith's eyes, Reeve watched Cid, Barrett, and Vincent from a corner of the small commissary on the Highwind. He had the mechanical Moogle powered down and hooked up for recharging, but he had left the transmitters on.

Barrett and Cid were surrounded by beer cans and laughing raucously. Tifa was cleaning up from dinner and staying prudently out of the way. Cloud seemed to have lightened up a lot since he'd come back, but he'd seen the alcoholic storm brewing some time ago and escaped to the bridge, claiming fearless-leader duties. Red XIII had also made himself scarce, muttering something about taking a walk above decks.

Vincent was sitting at a separate small table, and his stack of cans was significantly smaller than Cid and Barrett's. He wasn't joining in their carousing—he'd grown grimmer as they'd grown happier.

"Hey, get over here, Valentine!" Cid roared. "Is a sawed-off flagpole won't-show-his-face head-up-the-ass ex-Turk too good to drink with a coupla working stiffs?"

Vincent stood up, bumping the table so that his small tower of cans toppled. They clanked and rolled on the floor, very loud in the sudden dead silence. Even watching from a distance of hundreds of miles, Reeve winced.

Vincent stalked out of the commissary. Slowly. He didn't weave too badly.

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Yuffie found him in the bathroom, slumped over the toilet. Luckily, she was able to rouse him enough to get him on his feet, out into the room, and onto the edge of his bed. He tried to take the wet rag from her until she pushed his hand away for the third time, and then submitted limply, eyes unfocused and staring anywhere but at her as she cleaned up his face.

So when she began to turn away and suddenly felt his hand grip hers tightly, it startled her so much that she jumped. He was looking at her from eyes that looked almost solid red, between the crimson irises and the bloodshot whites.

"Thank you," he whispered hoarsely.

She smiled.


	9. 2

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The Top 10 Reasons Vincent Loves Yuffie

#2

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There wasn't much left of the thing that had once been Hojo.

Tifa, along with the others, stared with nervous awe as Vincent, still in Chaos form, continued to rain down blows on the dead monstrosity, bellowing in challenge as if goading it to get up and fight some more. That wasn't happening, but Chaos didn't seem to be able to get that idea through its ugly head.

Yuffie was pressed close to Tifa's side, clutching her arm, wincing as the gigantic demon's hideous cries assaulted their ears. "…Isn't he going to change back?" she whispered, her eyes eating up her face.

Tifa put an arm around Yuffie's tense shoulders, staring up at the enraged beast. "I don't know," she whispered back. _He's never stayed in any of his other forms this long before…_

Cloud was watching Chaos, his face pale, the gleam of mako in his eyes very bright in the dim, hazy light from the streetlights that hadn't been shattered in the battle. "…Maybe we'd better get some distance between him and us," he finally muttered reluctantly. The thing's fury showed no sign of abating, but surely it was going to get bored with splashing in a gory puddle pretty soon and look for something with a little more meat to it.

"No!" Yuffie darted forward. "Vincent!"

"Yuffie, no!" Tifa screamed, but her grab missed, and the girl dashed toward the monster.

"That _idiot_!" Barrett and Cid lunged forward, but Red XIII was faster. He built up speed in a few nimble leaps and sprang at the girl, knocking her flat to the pavement.

Yuffie screamed in anger and pain and started to struggle, but they both froze as Chaos turned away from the mess and fixed its eyes of hell on them.

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_More!_

_No._

_More!_

_No! It's over. He's dead! It's enough!_

_More! Those!_

_NO! Not them!_

_More…MORE!_

_NO!_

Chaos beat its huge, leathery wings and started to lift off from the ground, ready to attack… and then the full brunt of All Creation hit it, almost knocking it heels over head in the air.

_What…?_

Wracked with pain, it stared down at the scraped, disheveled, lanky figure standing unsteadily far, far below. The beast hung in the air for a moment… and then slowly, almost gently, began to fall, increasing speed until it hit the ground with a crash.

---

Vincent stirred, feeling the familiar warm, invigorating wash of a high-level Cure spell. He opened his eyes, finding himself looking into Yuffie's tear- and blood-streaked face. The others were standing around them.

"Yuffie…" He coughed a little. There were all kinds of unpleasant tastes in his mouth that he really, _really_ didn't want to think about.

She sniffled. "Yeah…?"

He stared at her, bemused. "…You hit me with your limit break…?"

She stared back at him, and then burst into laughter and tears at the same time, flinging her arms around him.

He didn't really mind.


	10. 1

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(And finally…)

The Top 10 Reasons Vincent Loves Yuffie

#1

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The world was saved.

Tomorrow there would be rescues, rebuilding, rejoicing… but tonight, there was rest.

Well, for most of the party, anyhow.

Vincent paced quietly through the Highwind, which had stopped in Junon for refueling and some repairs. Tomorrow it would join the other airships in the effort to find survivors in Midgar. The night-shift crew was supervising all that; everyone else had turned in. They'd earned it.

Red XIII was snoozing on the bridge. Barrett and Cid had passed out companionably at a table in the commissary, but the stack of cans was pretty small. Vincent smirked very faintly.

He hadn't spotted Cloud and Tifa, and didn't really want to. They'd been going in the same direction at the same time and smiling at each other in a significant fashion when last he saw them, and that was _all_ he wanted to know.

_This is their victory. I should go. I don't have any talent for fixing things._

_Go where? _He didn't know. He'd think of something.

But there was one more person he felt the need to see once more before he left, and he couldn't find her anywhere.

Finally he ventured above decks, and there she was, wide awake, leaning against the rail, arms folded. "What kept _you_?" she said, smirking.

He paused for a long moment, and then came forward to stand beside her at the rail. He gazed down at her. She grinned back up at him.

"Yuffie…"

"Yes?" she whispered.

"Isn't that _my_ materia?"

She glanced innocently down at the ranks of mastered materia adorning her shuriken and armor, and beamed up at him. "Well… we took care of Sephiroth. You don't need it anymore, right?"

He sighed...and smiled. _Well… I guess I can't leave until I win them all back, at least._

Yuffie blinked, and smiled back, and turned to look out at the lights of Junon reflected on the water under the clear night sky.

The stars were shining, the moon was full.

It couldn't be more perfect.

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**The End**

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